664. Dongyue Temple, Beijing, China

During my last trip to China in May of 2018 to run the Great Wall Marathon, I was lucky enough to get a couple of days to explore the city of Beijing.

One of my favorite stops was the Dongyue Temple in Beijing.

Lonely Planet describes the temple as, “Dedicated to the Eastern Peak (Tài Shān) of China’s five Taoist mountains, the morbid Taoist shrine of Dōngyuè Temple is an unsettling, albeit fascinating, experience and one of the capital’s most unusual temples. An active place of worship tended by top-knotted Taoist monks, the temple’s roots go all the way back to the Yuan dynasty. It’s most notable for its long corridor exhibiting a series of comically macabre displays of statues representing different ‘departments’ from the Taoist underworld. ”

Costing less than $2 USD (10 yuan) for admission, it was most certainly one of the most interesting things to see in Beijing.